HOUSTON — What's expected to be the last pretrial hearing in the criminal case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been pushed back a week. It was reset until Tuesday, March 26, according to special prosecutor Brian Wice.
Paxton's trial on two counts of securities fraud is scheduled to begin in Houston on April 15.
Editor's note: The above video originally aired in February.
One count accuses the attorney general of recruiting investors for a Dallas-based tech company but not telling them he was being paid by the company to do so. The second count accuses Paxton of steering clients to a friend’s investment advising business without registering with the state.
If convicted, Paxton faces five to 99 years in prison on each count. The embattled attorney general has pleaded not guilty.
After a February hearing, prosecutors predicted the securities fraud trial would be fairer than the 2023 impeachment trial Paxton survived with help from his fellow Republicans in the Texas Senate.
“The playing field’s level and the truth matters,” special prosecutor Brian Wice said. “And the truth is that Mr. Paxton is going to have to answer for what is that he did eight years ago.”
Defense attorneys said they're confident in their case and the judicial process.
“I think this will be a fair trial,” Paxton defense attorney Philip Hadler told us. “We have a fair judge and I think we expect an even hand in this.”
Paxton was indicted in 2015 but ongoing court battles slowed the progress.
“We think that the general’s fingerprints, footprints and DNA were all over the delays,” Wice said in February.
Dan Cogdell blamed the prosecutors for much of the delay. He said their attempts to be paid — which have been unsuccessful since 2016 — put off the trial for years.
“That’s what this food fight has been all about,” Cogdell said. “This case has been pending longer than three out of four of my marriages lasted.”
Other factors that led to the delay included the prosecution’s successful motions to move the case from Collin to Harris County, Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19.
Ken Paxton's other legal battles
In addition to the fraud indictments, the attorney general was impeached last year for allegedly swapping political favors with a campaign donor but he beat the charges.
His agency still faces a whistleblower lawsuit by former staff members whose allegations prompted his impeachment.
He's also being sued over his role in challenging the 2020 presidential election results.
Paxton’s legal troubles, however, have not slowed his political rise and he's been re-elected twice since 2015.
Hitching his star to Donald Trump, Paxton has become one of the most recognizable state attorneys general in the country known for fighting against abortion access and LGBTQ rights and for tougher border security and immigration policies.